1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of special purpose disposable containers, and in particular to containers for use in the disposal of used medical/surgical sharp implements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sharp implements such as suture and hypodermic needles, expendable scalpel blades, and the like, are used regularly in all forms of surgical procedures. Following the surgical procedures, these items must be disposed of in a safe manner to assure that possible injury and infection of the operating room and other hospital personnel does not result. An additional consideration in the use of such sharp implements (hereinafter referred to alternately as "sharps") during surgery is the necessity of providing an accurate system for determining how many such implements were used, and to insure that all implements used have been accounted for following the surgical procedure. In the recent past, various sharps disposal and count devices and techniques have been proposed in response to these problems.
A recently proposed device for retaining and disposing of sharps during and after a surgical procedure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,882 to Fenster, et al. The device proposed by Fenster comprises a pressure sensitive adhesive coating (one time use) on a layer of polyurethane foam, all of which is carried by a scored cardboard backing which is folded closed after use to serve as the sharps disposal medium.
Similar sharps disposal devices employing, respectively, magnetic and adhesive layers on a foldable foam pad are described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,727,658 and 3,944,069, both to J. D. Eldridge, Jr. Another system similar to the devices described in the previously cited patents, but also providing for a method for maintaining an accurate count of the number of sharp implements utilized during the surgical procedure, is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,802 to Freitag.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,109 to Sandel describes a disposable container for surgical instruments which embodies a non-deformable casing having magnetic sheets covering the entire surfaces of both lower and upper portions of the case.
All of the disposable receivers described in the above cited patents suffer from a number of disadvantages. The two most significant of these disadvantages are--the inability of the operating room personnel to close and reopen (without damage to the container) the sharps disposal device at will, or as required during the surgical procedure; and the inability of the operating room personnel to make a visual examination of the contents of the disposable container after it has been closed or otherwise readied for disposal. For example, although U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,802 discloses a system for maintaining a count of the used sharp implements, this count cannot be verified after the pad has been folded upon itself and adhesively secured together.
In brief, the prior art disposable receiver disadvantages are: (a) most can be opened accidentally, as with magnetic or hook and loop (Velcro) closures; (b) others are rendered useless (permanently damaged) when reopened, as with adhesive closures; (c) rigid plastic receivers fracture easily and their closure means are highly susceptible to failure; and (d) most devices allow lateral side exposure of unsecured sharps. Each shortcoming outlined above precludes the desired degree of safe handling, safe disposal, or reopening and/or visual inspection for accountability of the used sharps.
Therefore, it is clear that a need exists for a system for the safe and economic disposal of sharps which eliminates the various disadvantages which have been experienced with previously proposed devices.